Arbor Lake is one, small, unhealthy lake.

Within the next few weeks, the City of Burien will annex this lake into the city. The lake’s health problems, in large part, come from its public access. A couple times per month, citizen scientists visit Arbor Lake to perform visual assessments of the environmental and physical conditions around the lake. The reports from those visits are not good. Currently, King County has a clean-up crew at Arbor Lake seven days per week. The crew reports that there is litter (bottles, cans, paper, plastics, paint cans, used condoms, needles, etc.), biological wastes (poop, vomit), damage to the park equipment and gang tagging daily to clean up. They worry that Burien will not have the financial resources to provide this seven day a week routine just to maintain the lake and surrounding area at its current level. The worst damage happens to the lake on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is a time at which Burien typically does not contract for park clean up.

Photo courtesy Arbor Lake area resident Colleen West.

A number of the neighbors around Arbor Lake say that they would never consider swimming in the lake because the water quality is so poor. Several drainage pipes empty into the lake and there is a lot of non-point pollution entering the lake. Arbor Lake is obviously infested with fecal coliform bacteria (E.coli) because of the amount of poop that is around the lake at times. Remember E.coli is that stuff that sickened and killed people who ate infected food. The major cause of this E.coli is not from birds. It is from humans and dogs pooping in and around the lake. During the summer, the lake has major infestations of invasive weeds that choke out the oxygen in the lake and make the water impossible to sustain any fish. At that time, the water is not healthy for the birds to use either.

Photo courtesy Arbor Lake area resident Colleen West.

The Native Plant society has attempted to help the lake by planting some native plants but clearly a great deal more needs to be done to help this small lake get back on the road to recovery. Most of the homes on the east side of the lake are heavily gated to protect the owners from public intrusion into their homes and property. No Trespassing signs are everywhere. The road running along the west side of the lake has had to be blockaded due to car racing and crimes. The King County Sheriff frequently has to visit the lake. Like Lake Hicks, Arbor Lake has fared poorly with public access. The City of Burien will be picking up a big financial bill, if it plans to care for and restore Arbor Lake.

Photo courtesy Arbor Lake area resident Colleen West.

What Burien really needs to provide for citizens is a swimming pool where they can learn to swim and enjoy the pleasure of water exercise. Most small lakes do not do well (water health wise) having heavy public access. Arbor Lake and Hicks Lake have not been able to meet the demands that the greater public has on them and perhaps that is not their real ecological purpose. These fragile bodies of freshwater are not sketchy line drawings on paper, art work, public swimming pools or public garbage cans. They are living, functioning natural systems that deserve respect, understanding, protection and care. Do not plan on having your kids swim in Arbor Lake soon for both your kids’ and the lake’s health.

– Chestine Edgar

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Have something you'd like to say? Then email us your "Letter to the Editor" by clicking here. Be sure to include your real name and a way to contact you, and, pending our review, we'll most likely post it. Otherwise, feel free to leave a Comment below...]

The Port of Seattle announced that it will start sampling and testing stormwater from the former Lora Lake Apartment complex in Burien this winter as part of a legal agreement with the Department of Ecology (Ecology).

Ecology is seeking public comment on this plan through Wednesday, Dec. 23rd, and residents interested in reviewing the proposal should click here.

The project, called an “Interim Action,” is part of the work the Port is required to perform to study contamination at the site, which housed a barrel-cleaning company in the 1940s and 50s and an auto-wrecking facility from roughly 1960 to 1981.

A 22-building apartment complex was built in 1987. The Port, which owns Sea-Tac Airport nearby, bought the property in 1998 and demolished six buildings within the airport’s Third Runway protection zone in 2007.

The remainder of the buildings were demolished just recently.

Environmental samples taken in preparation for that demolition showed higher than expected levels of contaminants from the pre-apartment complex activities at the site. Pollutants associated with the site’s former activities include petroleum products, dioxin, solvents and other contaminants.

The Port demolished only above-ground structures, and took measures – under Ecology oversight – to not disturb potentially contaminated soil.

Port consultants will collect stormwater samples during rainstorms, with a plan to collect sampls during up to 10 storms. The information will help Ecology determine whether the site requires special or additional stormwater controls or treatment. Polluted runoff – stormwater – is the leading threat to water quality in the state’s urban areas.

As we reported in August, the Port of Seattle wants to develop facilities for airport-compatible activities there, such as air cargo, food service and warehouses, and on other property it owns within Burien’s Northeast Planning Area north of the airport.

But the now-vacant lot is just inside the Burien city limits and several city council members hope this location will anchor economic development in the Northeast Planning Area that will generate additional sales tax and other revenue for the city. Possible land uses include an auto mall and a business park.

City Manager Mike Martin said recently that an interchange at the location, at 15001 Des Moines Memorial Drive, would increase the value of the Lora Lake site for business development.

It is also available for review at the Burien Public Library (400 SW 152nd St., 206-243-3490), as well as the Department of Ecology’s regional office in Bellevue – by appointment (425-649-7190 – 3190 160th Ave. SE).

A fact sheet on Lora Lake Apartments site is available at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0909175.pdf.

For technical questions or to comment on the plan, please contact David South, Ecology Site Manager, 425-649-7200; e-mail dsou461@ecy.wa.gov.

by Josh Hart

Car companies and auto dealers have never been known as the most environmentally-conscious businesses around, but times are changing. Many car dealerships and auto body shops are now using waterborne paint.

With everything and everyone “going green,” auto dealers are starting to become that way too – including BTB Advertiser Burien Honda, the first Burien-area car dealer to convert to this new ecologically-safe product.

Waterborne paint is much more environmentally-friendly than previously-used solvent based. The paint can be used in any color and be made to match older car colors that are unique to individual models. According to manufacturers, waterborne paint has these advantages:

• They contains and emit less organic solvent into the atmosphere
• They provide certain refinishing benefits and offer lower toxicity
• They may lower insurance costs (since water is the major solvent, the product is less flammable)
  

With times changing, Burien Honda is definitely one that is changing with the times, so let’s give them a round of applause for helping save our environment. It needed to happen soon and it looks like it has.

We can all join Burien Honda in saving the world by just doing small things, such as riding your bike or the bus to work instead of alone in a car will help, along with turning off lights and conserving electricity.

Some things that we take for granted can really affect the environment.

What are you doing that is “green”?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Josh Hart is the B-Town Blog's first Intern! He's also a 15-year old student at Highline's “Big Picture High School” in SeaTac.

You can read more of his writing here...]

Late Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued an “Air Stagnation Advisory,” which basically declares a burn ban – so even though it’s cold outside, don’t you dare start a fire in the fireplace!

Here’s the advisory:

…Air stagnation advisory remains in effect until 10 PM PST Tuesday…

Stagnant conditions will return overnight as winds across most of the interior lowlands of western Washington become light. A strong temperature inversion remains over most of western Washington tonight that is limiting mixing and is trapping stagnant air near the surface. The exception is the east Puget Sound lowlands where gusty east winds will maintain good mixing and ventilation. The stagnant conditions are expected to last into Tuesday night.

People in western Washington should be aware that bans on outdoor burning are possible. Be sure to check with your local pollution control agency. In the Seattle area you can contact the Puget Sound clean air agency or visit their website at www.Pscleanair.Org.

Precautionary/preparedness actions… do not burn trash and be aware of local regulations for burning. People with respiratory difficulties such as asthma may find that strenuous exercise outdoors in this increasingly stagnant air mass may worsen the condition.

According to Pscleanair.Org, here are the restrictions under a Stage 1 burn ban:

• No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves, unless this is your only adequate source of heat. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is cancelled.;
• Natural gas, propane and pellet stoves or inserts ARE allowed.
• No visible smoke is allowed from any wood stove or fireplace, certified or not, beyond a 20-minute start-up period.
• All outdoor burning is prohibited, even in areas where outdoor burning is not permanently banned. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas. Burning of storm and flood damage debris is also prohibited. The Clean Air Agency encourages people to take advantage of free flood-debris disposal coordinated by their county.
• Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.

You can monitor air quality here: http://www.pscleanair.org/airq/aqi.aspx, including when the burn ban may be lifted.